Weather Blog: Dangerous Wind Chills Ahead

Thank you for stopping by the Weather Watch 12 Blog! The coldest airmass in about two years will grip southeast Wisconsin early this week. In today's blog we discuss the potential dangerous wind chills that may accompany the bitter cold.

Let's start with the definition of 'wind chill' from the NWS.

The wind chill temperature is how cold people and animals feel when outside. Wind chill is based on the rate of heat loss from exposed skin caused by wind and cold. As the wind increases, it draws heat from the body, driving down skin temperature and eventually the internal body temperature. Therefore, the wind makes it FEEL much colder. If the temperature is 0 degrees Fahrenheit and the wind is blowing at 15 mph, the wind chill is -19 degrees Fahrenheit. At this wind chill temperature, exposed skin can freeze in 30 minutes.

In the coming days make sure to cover all exposed skin if you will be in the bitter cold wind chills for any amount of time. Here is how long it takes exposed skin to get frostbite or freeze under certain conditions.

Wind chills will fall into both of these categories early this week. The RPM future wind chills forecast map below is valid at 7am Monday. This shows forecast wind chills of -12 to -20 across south central and southeast Wisconsin.

The coldest morning, and likely the most dangerous for kids waiting at the bus stop will be Tuesday morning as wind chills may drop to -20 to -30 across southeast Wisconsin. The RPM future wind chills map is shown below.

Our part of the state may see a Wind Chill Advisory issued sometime Monday or Tuesday to alert everyone to the dangerous wind chills that are possible.

Temperatures will slowly moderate by mid-week, and a chance of snow will enter the forecast by Thursday. We will focus more on snow chances in the coming days as we enter a more active part of the weather pattern.

For the latest on the bitter cold, watch WISN 12 News, and for updates throughout the day follow me on Twitter @jnelsonweather

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